Appalachian Trail Hall of Famer to speak in Orono

If interested in learning more about Maine’s section of the Appalachian Trail, consider attending “Finding the Trail – How the Appalachian Trail Came to Maine,” a presentation by Dave Field, starting 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Buchanan Alumni House at the University of Maine in Orono.

Photo courtesy of Dave FieldIn this photograph, taken Aug. 19, 1933, as it appeared in the book “Along Maine’s Appalachian Trail” by trail historian and Maine Appalachian Trail Club member Dave Field of Hampden, are (from left) Albert H. Jackman with paint can, Myron H. Avery holding a wheel for measuring distance and J. Frank Schairer, who pose in front of the original AT summit sign on Baxter Peak.

The event is part of a speaker series sponsored by the Friends of the AT in Maine, a group that promotes and supports the volunteer work performed by the Maine Appalachain Trail Club.

During the 45-minute presentation, Field will talk about AT history and who cares for the trail today, while sharing historical and more recent photographs from Maine’s section of the famous trail.

The AT is one of the longest continuously marked footpaths in the world, spanning 14 states. Its southern end is Springer Mountain in Georgia, and its northern end is the peak of Katahdin, Maine’s tallest mountain. More than 2 million people hike a section of the AT each year, and Maine’s section is widely known as the most challenging.

Field, a retired University of Maine professor of Forest Resources, was instrumental in major relocations of the trail in Maine, which significantly improved the route. He shares his knowledge of the AT’s evolution in Maine in his 2011 book “Along Maine’s Appalachian Trail,” published by Arcadia Publishing.

Field, who lives in Hampden, is also a longtime member of the MATC, a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 that maintains and protects 267 miles of the trail in Maine. As an MATC maintainer, he has maintained the same 6 miles of the AT from Saddleback Mountain near Rangeley, between Orbeton Stream and the summit of The Horn, since 1956.

In 2013, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy inducted him into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame by the Appalachian Trail Museum.